THE NE.,W YORKER at HdmpshIre House ( which is dedicated "To Yesterday's Charm and Tomorrow's Con- venience"), a lot of people were waiting for the Bee Gees to ar- rive. The Bee Gees have had a number of hit records, and at the moment one of them, "Lonely Days," is No. 1 on some charts. "They're al] three b rot her s," awe 11- dressed bLlck girl said, "and two of them 'ire twins, but I can never tell which two." We talked with a man who works for Atco, the Bee Gees' record company. 'Someone called this morning and said that the Bee Gees were F as- cist pigs, and that he would bomb this place-which is fabu- lous, except no one believes us and everyone thinks it's a publicity stunt. That's why we have a}] this security. Imagine, a Number One record, and now this," he said. There were a number of people in business suits in the Cottage, and a greater number in established hippie gear. Some people talked about the Bee Gees. "They're A ustralzan, not Cana- dian," said one girl. "1 saw someone with furry feet, and I thought he might be a Bee Gee, but he wasn't," said another. Finally, the Bee Gees arnved. We talked to Barry Gibb, a Bee Gee ("I'm the third one on the left- that is, looking from behind"), and asked hin1 how it felt to have a No. 1 hit " I ' k " h O d ill t nervous wrec, e saI . I N the apartment of the famous play- wright Edward Albeè, various fa- mous performers involved In his new play, "All Over," were meeting to ob- serve a small first-rehearsal ritual. It was an eclectic ritual, combining im- portant elements of theatrical tradition, theatrical-union tradition, and public- relations tradition, and though everyone in Mr. Albee's apartment was com- fortable in at lea t one of these tradi- tions, very few knew how to cope with all three, so there was a certain amount of dran1atIc tension around There were sImple styles and complex styles. Leon- ard Harris, arts editor at C.B.S., who was wearing a blue blazer, and tortoise- ,.,^: . ..'" '00...... .. . . .. . "Co < ':" . ,. , " . '\ '-' , '111. .... v#'. "..". , ;; J , : ;}- :t ( '" "::, .. q......... . .. .oOo':jf. .'<"". . .:_.., , Ñ :."<j": ' ,' . "" " ':;" .'. ^..). as'ome watchdog lJJ . . she}] glasses held together with adhesive tape, had a very sImple style. All he wanted was a real rehearsal to film, and he had a number of straightfor- ward, simple conversations with Sir ] ohn Gielgud, who will direct "All Over," and who thought the idea of a televised first readIng was appallIng. Mr. Harris was able to shade his pro- nunciation of "Sir John" to convey man} different moods-tolerance, im- patience, petulance, tolerance again, and, in the end, resignation. Finally, he collapsed on a chair . "Would you believe I don't care hO,"7 it turns out?" he said to an associate. Mr Albee had a complex style. He had a very complex glowering smile. The smile indicated that he was happy, but the glowering undercut that im- pression and indicated that actually he WdS miserable and enraged and wound- ed, and not pleased to hd ve so mdny people in his apartment. All this never- theless seemed appropriate and becom- ing, so at a still deeper level he seemed ha ppy . We talked with Sir John Gielgud, whose style was either simple-complex or complex-simple. He sat in a small chair at one side of the fireplace in Mr. Albee's drawing room. Behind him, at an angle, was a model of the set for "All Over." On the wan above the fireplace were a Picasso picture and a carved surround in the manner of Gnnling Gibbons. The wall itself (and every other wall in the apartment) was covered with cork Both the PIcasso and the approximate Grinling Gibbons 33 -- "" . I "..J " " i zt: :::- ':" .. 1 .... <11' --- " """V " "' ,, .... SUI round were tAcked onto the cork. "We talked about my directing 'All 0 , f I d o ' H ' " ver soon a ter opene In ome, Sir John saId. "1 rather love to direct, you know. I'm not quite sure whether the last play I directed was the Burton 'Hamlet' or 'Halfway up the Tree' in London I did direct 'Don Giovanni,' but it was disastrous I so love doing opera, but that one wasn't any good. 'All Over' couldn't be more different from 'Home' Everything in 'Home' is short Sentences and sparse. In 'AI] Over,' everything is most coherent and quite elaborate. It is very good Eng- lish-full of well-turned phrases and paren theses. Albee writes a short story in each speech." A ritual greeting was staged for the television can1eramen, who had been denied a rehearsal. Mr. Albee and Sir ] ohn greeted the cast, which by the time of the greeting had been in Mr. Albee's apartment for nearly two hours. Cameran1en kept telling the cast to move closer together. Colleen Dewhurst, whose style is energetic and vital, said, "We'll get to be a pretty tIghtly knit group.." "I'm not going to get tightly knit with anyone," said ] essica Tandy, with a ladylike laugh. "It's not in my nature." Richard Barr, one of the producers of "All Over," was talking t a young lady at his side. "I went to a funeral yesterday, then I went to the Museum of Modern Art, then I went to a par- ty for 'Home,' and now I'm here," he said